Real Estate News You Can Use

GMAC Mortgage says although reviews of foreclosure affidavits involving homes in 23 judicial states are ongoing, the company has found "no evidence to date of any inappropriate foreclosures," and as files are evaluated, the foreclosure process resumes. The company also announced that it has engaged several legal and accounting firms to conduct independent reviews of its foreclosure procedures in each of the 50 states, and it is conducting second-look evaluations of all foreclosure sale files nationwide.


The National Association of Realtors (NAR) is holding meetings with the nation's four largest lenders to address growing concerns about their processes for short sales and selling REO homes. The trade group's leadership team has already met with representatives from Bank of America and Wells Fargo to discuss, as NAR put it, "the problems Realtors face every day when working to get deals to the closing table." Meetings are scheduled later this year with Chase Home Mortgage and CitiMortgage.


Home prices in the United States found their floor during the early part of 2010 and are expected to begin trending upward next year, according to a panel of elite economists surveyed by the National Association for Business Economics. They are projecting gains in home prices of 1.2 percent over the course of 2011. "The housing recovery is intact, but tepid overall. Home prices have hit bottom," according to the group of economists.


During the third quarter, 49 mortgage-related companies went under or closed down part of their operations, according to industry data released Tuesday. Organizational shake-ups were felt at even the nation's largest lenders. One top-four bank put the brakes on its subprime lending business, while the country's No. 1 lender abandoned mortgage broker originations. As of the end of September, industry casualties for the year tallied 158. However, overall mortgage-related failures this year are on track to subside from 2009.

Regards,
Jim Whatley
Uber Realty
850.499.2940